May I ask you a question? A large-scale experiment examining the effectiveness of a multimodal, conversational digital dietitian on nutritional knowledge in virtual reality
Dietitians play a key role in health care, but a shortage of well-trained professionals is looming. Wageningen University & Research is therefore exploring an immersive digital dietitian: in VR, patients learn about portions, energy density and food preparation by preparing virtual meals themselves. The central question is whether the virtual dietitian's conversational abilities and non-verbal communication - asking questions, gestures, facial expressions - further strengthen the learning effect.
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Towards a Common Language for Immersive Experiences: a Cross-Sector Exploration of Concepts and Measurement
How are IX effects measured? And do different sectors actually mean the same thing when they use IX concepts and measurement methods? These questions evolve alongside developments in the IX field. For Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, this is reason to critically re-examine the perception of existing concepts and methods, together with other research groups and IX creators from the creative industry.
Van ethische dilemma’s naar toekomstdenken: immersieve technologie als katalysator voor inclusieve besluitvorming
Technological innovations bring urgent ethical questions with them. These questions call not only for an assessment of what is desirable, but also for anticipating possible futures and the values that are central to them. A major barrier to inclusive decision-making is a lack of futures awareness and ethical capacity. Many people find it hard to imagine the implications of technology. Non-users in particular experience a knowledge gap and feel they cannot join the conversation, even though they do undergo technology's impact. This problem is reinforced because the future of a technology is often imagined by a handful of companies whose business models encourage polarisation and digital dependency, while environmental impact and social costs are externalised. This increases the likelihood of one-sided decision-making. The project applies ethics-by-design by involving a city's residents inclusively and actively in exploring ethical dilemmas around emerging technology. We use social friction as a source of innovation and connect technology development to values such as safety, power and inclusion. The research focuses on strengthening the imagination through two 'Moral Labs': 1 - a traditional presentation (image and text), followed by a conversation; 2 - an immersive presentation in Virtual Reality (VR), followed by a conversation. In both scenarios, several participants discuss the positions taken and the moral dilemmas together. The VR intervention uses multiplayer functionality to create social presence. By running a moderated split test on the two scenarios above, this research weighs the effectiveness of an immersive experience against the traditional presentation. The richness of both conversations is analysed using Ahvenharju's (2018) five dimensions of futures consciousness and the LIWC tool (Boyd, 2022). The results offer insight into how immersive technology can contribute to inclusive ethical dialogue and democratic decision-making.
Gedeelde inzichten in interactionele en impactvolle XR
XR learning environments - such as VR simulations and interactive training scenarios - are increasingly used in health care, communication, safety and public services. They help professionals practise difficult conversations, analyse complex situations and experiment safely with new behaviour. Despite this growth, it is not yet sufficiently clear which didactic and design choices make these environments effective, inclusive and responsible. The project Gedeelde inzichten in interactionele en impactvolle XR investigates how immersive learning environments can be designed to support learning, reflection and meaningful professional practice. The focus is not on the technology, but on the experience of users: how they navigate, interpret, process feedback and gain insight into digital decision-making processes. Together with XR creators and partners from the health care and public sectors, we analyse existing applications - such as VR-Gedeelde Smart and the BEP environments - and gather experiences from designers, health care professionals, communication advisers and environmental analysts. We build on existing, long-used XR learning environments and a proven collaboration, so that we do not need to develop new technology and can devote resources fully to research, analysis and validation. By linking their practical knowledge to insights from conversation analysis, user experience design, adoption theories and smart education, we develop and validate a set of generic design and didactic principles for effective and responsible XR learning environments. These principles address, among other things, clarity, interaction, reflection, accessibility and value-conscious design. The results yield scalable knowledge for the broad XR sector: from design studios and public organisations to educators working with immersive technology. In doing so, the project contributes to a more responsible and inclusive use of XR in society and offers concrete tools for digital decision-making and complex communication.
GausScape: Evaluating 3D Gaussian Splatting for Spatial Understanding in Greenhouse Environments
In greenhouse horticulture, operators have to monitor optimal growing conditions for crops. Together with two SMEs, Wageningen University & Research (WUR) focuses on the question: what desirable and undesirable effects does a specific 3D technique (Gaussian Splatting) have on operators' work process, perception and decision-making, as opposed to the current technique? In addition, the insights from this research may be relevant to other sectors.